Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria.

GOLDSTEIN, Richard.

Item Number: 109457

New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

First edition of this definitive work of the rescue of the Andrea Doria. Octavo, original boards. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Andrew Heiskell: With Best Wishes, Richard Goldstein January 21, 2003.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Jose Almaguer.

On an extraordinary summer’s night in 1956, in a fog off Nantucket, the world-renowned ocean liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm. Eleven hours later, the gorgeous ship that employed the finest maritime technology of her day, and was hailed as "a floating art gallery," tragically sank. But in that brief time the Doria became, after the Titanic, the most storied vessel of the century, as nearly 1,700 people were saved in an unforgettable rescue punctuated by countless acts of heroism, amid confusion, terror, and even cowardice. Launched in 1951, the Andrea Doria proudly marked the resurgence of Italian maritime service. Her loss not only foreshadowed the end of the era of elegant liners, but reasserted the fragility of life for the millions still recovering from the war’s destruction. In this fascinating book, Richard Goldstein re-creates the ill-fated voyage, from the passengers’ parting waves at Genoa, to their last evening highball in the Doria’s lavish lounge, to the final, unbelievable realization that catastrophe was imminent. Goldstein draws from dozens of interviews that relate never-before-told stories, as well as court documents, memoirs, and reports by psychiatrists who examined survivors. And he presents technical findings that shed light on the blame for this disaster at sea. The result is a definitive history of a fateful day, a legendary liner, and a deadly shipwreck now considered by scuba divers to be the Mount Everest of the deep.